Jackie Zach
May 17, 2024
Let’s review: During our journey through the topic of accountability we’ve explored…
- Looking within ourselves and making sure our headspace is in the right place as we lead.
- Making sure that we set clear expectations, and the person understands what is expected of them.
- Is the person willing to take personal responsibility to get the job done? If not, why not?
How many times do people tell you or you tell yourself, “Yes, I know how to do that?” without really understanding what to do next. We’ve all done it and your employees did it too.
What questions could you ask to verify that the person knows what to do next? One question might be what are the first 3 steps you need to take to get started? What does success look like?
If you find out that the person really doesn’t know what to do. Sometimes it requires telling but most of the time questions are the answer. Let’s face it, most of us try to find the easiest path and it is much quicker for them to ask you rather than find the answer themselves. If the answer can be found in other places, how-to documents, the internet, reference materials, other team members, etc. then it is time to use questions. If the answer can only be found in your head, then it is time to get it documented so that it can be referenced in the future.
If you as the leader are consistently the go-to person, what happens to you? You’re constantly busy solving everyone’s problems instead of working on growing your company. You become a bottleneck in your business.
Here are a couple of questions to get you started.
- Where could you find the answer?
- What is the next step you could take?
- What 3 options would work? Which of those do you recommend?
The more you use questions vs telling someone what to do, the less people will come to you for the answer. For you, consistent questions vs telling will empower. For your team, empowering them to find the answers will help them grow and learn. You, your team and your company will benefit. Win/Win/Win.